Hand-me-downs of your ill-fitting sympathies

Us in our poverty

You at your charity party

You think we don’t know you call us “them”

Well to us you’re “those people” too

 

At the end of the day

The king and the pawn get put away

In the same box

But that’s not

How the game gets played

To the rich goes just the right amount

Of too much

And the poor get our fair share

Of just not enough

 

We make your beds

We clean the pools you never swim in

We take it in stride until you confide

“Isn’t it great anyone can win”

 

The poor are pawns again

 

At the end of the day

The king and the pawn get put away

In the same box

But that’s not

How the game gets played

To the rich goes just the right amount

Of too much

And the poor get our fair share

Of just not enough

 

Your rules bend the game your way

Just good business sense you say

To be better protected

Simply strategic you say, to be respected

Fair would be fair except you forget

The playing field’s checkered

 

The poor are pawns again

The poor are pawns again